Adele Carles on ‘Desiderata’

As Fremantle Poetry Month approaches, we asked some Fremantle people about their favourite poetry, poems and poets.

Adele Carles MLA is the State Member for Fremantle; she has a history of community activism in Fremantle that goes back many years. She has campaigned to save our beaches and to stop lead contamination. She is a passionate advocate for the Fremantle community on social justice issues, and is outspoken on Western Australian issues.

Here’s what she had to say about her favourite poem:

“An old favourite for me is ‘Desiderata’ by Max Ehrmann. It makes me think of my mother, because she had a copy of it hanging up in her bedroom when I was a child and I remember reading it many times. I particularly like the following verse:

You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”